Lithuania: what will the parliamentary election bring?
The first round of Lithuania's parliamentary elections takes place on Sunday. The second round two weeks later will determine the composition of the Seimas. Commentators analyse the campaign and weigh up the current government's chances of being re-elected.
The government will be voted out
On news portal 15min, political scientist Vladimiras Laučius sees a change of government as imminent:
“The latest poll in the run-up to the parliamentary elections indicates that the ruling conservatives of the Homeland Union (TS-LKD) will be overtaken not only by the Social Democrats (LSDP), but also by Remigijus Žemaitaitis's nationalist party Dawn of Nemunas. ... It's clear that with significantly fewer seats in the new Seimas, the ruling conservatives will not be able to maintain the power of the current coalition, even if all three liberal parties clear the electoral hurdle.”
Reverting to the same old patterns
Although the country's economy is on the upswing, anything and everything was bashed in the election campaign, says Verslo žinios:
“Now that the election campaign has ended we see that unfortunately the topic of economic growth, which could have given voters in Lithuania more hope and confidence in the future, did not dominate. The politicians' public discourse reverted to the usual patterns: either useless recriminations or baseless, florid promises to create a new Lithuania in the next four years. ... Allegedly everything is miserable in today's Lithuania, even though according to the economists we are living in a 'golden age'.”
The president should stay out of this
IQ editor-in-chief Ovidijus Lukošius stresses:
“A new trend in these elections is the open campaign interference by President Gintanas Nausėda for the Social Democratic Party (LSDP) and the way he has urged party leader Vilija Blinkevičiūtė to run for the office of head of government, even against her will. This is, to put it mildly, disrespect or even contempt on the part of the president towards the voters, triggered by his phobia of the conservatives.”